There is no need to physically attach solar panels to your car’s roof to determine if it will charge your car. Of course it will while it’s in the sun. Let’s do some math:
If:
The area of this Tesla’s roof is 2 square meters (being generous),
The efficiency of the panels is 25%,
The capacity factor of solar (depending on your location) is 20%,
The sun’s irradiance is 1000 watts per square meter,
The Tesla’s battery capacity is 100 KWhrs,
And we neglect the increased weight and drag of the array,
We’re talking about 100 hours, more than 4 days.
Doesn’t sound like a bargain, especially considering that if you overbuild the solar array on your roof and charge your car in your garage, you’ve achieved the same goal at far less expense and inconvenience.
It depends on what you believe.
Fox News will tell you that our southern border is no longer being overrun, that we’ve discovered that vaccinations are unsafe, that we’re standing up against Sharia Law, we’re preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon, prices are coming down (or soon will be), Trump is an honest and effective servant of the American people and that the U.S. is once again respected on the world stage.
We live in a country where tens of millions of idiots believe every word of this.
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I met a guy today from a rural part of Central England–“nothing but farms and pubs,” as he put it. His father was an epidemiologist working for the United Nations, and so, as a boy, he lived all over the world and grew up largely in developing countries that suffered from horrific diseases.
He and his wife had the conversation one would expect from such people:
- Why are we so content to ignore climate change that is ruining our planet?
- Why are people so indifferent to the suffering of others?
- How is it possible that billionaires expect to live well here on Earth while 99.9% of us suffering with wildfires, devastating storms, blistering heat, losses of landmasses, and desertification?
- At the end of the day, is money really that precious?
Obviously, not everyone thinks this way, but to be in something of a “lovefest” for just a few minutes was a great relief.
relief.
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